01	Mr. Doctor						20:16
	02	Eliogabalus						24:44

Devil Doll - "Eliogabalus" - 1990


Members:
Mr. Doctor - Man of Thousand Voices/organ/piano/celesta/accordion
Edoardo Beato - piano/keyboards
Roberto Dani - drums
Katia Giubbilei - violin
Rick Bosco - drums
Albert Dorigo - guitar
Bor Zuljan - guitar
with:

Jurij Toni - tuba
Paolo Zizich - Duet "The Mirror" with Mr. Doctor

The Devil chorus conducted by Marian Bunic:

Paolo Zizich
Marian Bunic
Polona Sever
Beti Roblek
Helena Pancur
Gregor Oblak
Jure Strencan
Borut Usenik
Valentina Blazinsek
Mr. Doctor

Tracks:
Mr. Doctor - 20'30"
Eliogabalus - 24'40"



Artist: Devil Doll
Title: Eliogabalus
Length: 45 mins
Year: 1990
Label: Hurdy Gurdy
Cat: HG 6
Origin: Italy/Slovenia
Format: 1xCD

Tracks:
1.Mr. Doctor
2.Eliogabalus

Review:

With this album, I feel Devil Doll start to define their approach ... but approach to what? Gothic choral vaudeville funeral music perhaps? Just two tracks ... "Mr Doctor" and "Eliogabalus" each about 20 minutes long. Calling them seperate tracks is a trifle misleading as the album sounds like just one long suite of well arranged strong melancholic material for solo piano, choir, violin, tuba and occasional rock outburst. There is a nicely crafted air of sinister undercurrent that runs beneanth the sometimes deliberately sparse and period-sounding instrumentation. "Dark" leaps into my mouth as an appropriate adjective but I think this is in some ways misleading as it invites comparisons with all sorts of incomparable things. What is meant is a programmatic atmosphere of Victorian ambience that, for example "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" evokes. "Enigmatic" is very much at home here. The vocals may put irk ... Mr Doctor does not really sing so much as lilt gruffly in whispered tones. Nomatter, the noticeably accented voice is hardly overpowering enough to ruin things: I actually now find it positively appealing after many listens. The vocally oriented music moves from powerful, simple piano lines and voice through brief uptempo rock sections into waltzes, European folk and avant-gardeisms. Strong dynamics are prominent ... the sections follow each other quickly and often in sharp contrast, but never clumsily. All in all, you can quickly come to appreciate a common element to the diversity in here and I find this album very powerful and rewarding. Wisely, the lyrics are metaphorical stories. Highly recommended to all.